Latet Anguis in Herba
by draco-is-the-punk
Summary: A heartbroken Severus escapes to his sanctuary to find that somebody else is already there. SnapexRegulus ONESHOT as of yet, may add more chapters


Severus Snape was running through the corridors, determined not to break down in front of all these gawping first years. He could feel tears welling up in his eyes, and he frantically blinked them away, urging himself to hold it together for just a while longer. He skidded around a corner and ducked underneath the tapestry hung on the wall, coming out into a secret passageway that he had discovered in his first year. This was where he came when everything got too much for him; a sanctuary from the main school. But today there was already somebody there.

Severus groaned inwardly, scrubbing his eyes and glared at the figure sitting on the stone floor. It was male, he could see that, and was wearing a Slytherin tie. He couldn't see the boy's face as it was cloaked by a curtain of silky black hair a little shorter than Severus'. The boy's head was in his hands and he was clearly upset, but Severus didn't feel any pity for this mystery guy. He cleared his throat, and the stranger looked up in surprise. His face was stunningly familiar, and Severus felt a strong sense of deja vu. Then he recognised the boy as Regulus Black, a boy a couple of years younger than him and who also happened to be Sirius Black's brother. Regulus was a little more slender and shorter than his older brother and his hair wasn't quite as long. But both of the boys had the same stormy grey eyes and their faces were strikingly similar.

"Ah, I remember you. You're Snape." Regulus said with a nod. His face was pale and tearless, and his silver eyes were wide. Severus nodded curtly.

"Excuse me, but can you please leave? I need this space. I found it. It's mine." he said. He realised how childish and pathetic he sounded and scowled extra hard to make up for it. Regulus smiled faintly.

"I happened to be here first. I'm not going anywhere." he said pleasantly. Severus cursed and turned to go. He felt a hand grab his arm and looked down. Regulus was holding his wrist in a vice-like grip.

"Don't be stupid. You can stay here; I'm not kicking you out. Plenty of room for both of us, Snape, and you clearly need the space as much as I do." he said. The older boy sighed, sitting down beside the other. It wasn't that he was being deliberately rude, but the haven didn't feel the same when there was somebody else in it. Severus was a very private person, and he hated to show his emotions. Especially in front of a stranger. Especially when the stranger was the brother of one of his sworn enemies.

"So what's the matter?" Regulus asked. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want, but I find sharing problems helps. Mind you, I haven't told anybody about this particular thing yet. They'd probably laugh."

Severus knew that by "they" Regulus was referring to the group of Slytherin boys which he generally hung around with. He knew himself how little sympathy Slytherins gave to their peers, and in that respect he envied the other houses. He gave Regulus an understanding nod, but refused to reveal the reason for his depression. Regulus sighed.

"Well, I might as well tell you why I'm here. I don't suppose you'll tell anybody."

"Why do you think that?" Severus asked brusquely "We've barely met."

Regulus looked puzzled for a moment, and then shrugged. His casual manner reminded Severus of his brother, but Regulus appeared to be by far more collected and poignant. He reminded Severus inexplicably of himself, an image which Severus firmly pushed aside. He didn't feel empathy, especially for a Black.

"Well anyway." Regulus said "I'll tell you the beginning; you'll find out sooner or later. Everyone will."

Severus nodded, inclining his head for the younger boy to continue. Regulus sighed.

"You know my brother, don't you?"

Severus raised an eyebrow ironically.

"You could say that." he sneered. "Your brother and his little friends have been making my life hell since I first came to this school."

Regulus gave Severus an understanding half smile before carrying on

"Well, you know his friend, Lupin? Well… they're together."

"Together?" Severus repeated blankly. "What… oh!"

"Yes, oh." Regulus said cynically.

"Are you sure that they're not just being their usual selves?" Snape asked "They have always been… how shall I put this… a little more intimate than most friends tend to be. If you've been listening to rumours and such…"

Regulus laughed mirthlessly.

"Do they usually make out in broom cupboards? It wasn't a rumour; I saw it myself."

"Ah." Snape said. He sat back against the wall to digest this news. He wasn't surprised in the least, nor could he see why Regulus was getting all worked up about it. He was about to say so when Regulus added

"That's not the full reason I'm here. It's just…"

He sighed deeply, tugging at his hair.

"Sirius was always the wild one of the family. But now he's run away and become effectively excommunicated, I'm the Black heir. I'm my family's only hope. They pin so many hopes on me I'm like a bloody pin cushion." he said bitterly. "Its not that I'm ashamed of who I am, and I want to please my parents. But they're never proud of me, never praise me. And yet they have such high expectations of me, a perfectly set out plan for me to follow through my life. And I'm so _jealous _of Sirius. He bailed out, he has his own life. But he never did what they said anyway. He was always perfectly assured in what he wanted. And I always thought I knew what I wanted, but now I see that it was just what my parents wanted and I never sought it at all."

Regulus took a deep breath and then ranted on

"I have no choices, no free will; it's all regulated for me. What subjects I chose for OWL year, who I make friends with, and when I grow up I'll have an arranged marriage to some pure-blood I neither know nor love. My parents had an arranged marriage and they don't seem to love each other at all. I don't want to grow up like them, but I want to make them happy."

Severus, who had been listening with interest to Regulus' tale, said slowly

"So you want to please your parents, yet you want a life of your own?"

Regulus nodded.

"And look at Sirius. He's with a half-blood, which I never would be allowed to do, and he's also with a guy. Definitely not allowed.

Severus arched an eyebrow.

"Oh? I didn't know that."

Regulus laughed acrimoniously. His laugh was most unlike the bark of his brother, it was mocking and astringent.

"Well, the main purpose of pure-blood families is to keep the blood line going, keep in the pedigree. This means having lots of nice little pure-blood children. So even I didn't swing that way, I couldn't be with the gender I was attracted to. But I'm not gay of course."

"I see." Severus said. He looked curiously at the younger boy. He understood how Regulus felt, restricted in almost every aspect of his life. It must be terrible. Severus had strict parents as well, but they didn't care that much about anything except fighting with each other. They didn't have the pride or the purity of the Black family, although he had never admitted his blood heritage to anybody except Lily.

Lily… at the thought of her name he felt all the pain come flooding back and he bit his lip to stop the tears. Regulus was watching him questioningly, and Severus turned away. Regulus sighed.

"And that's not all. I think that the parents want me to join the Death Eaters when I leave school."

"And you don't want to?"

Regulus looked at him scornfully.

"No, of course I don't. I don't want to wear a mask and hide my identity while I torment innocent muggle-borns and dabble in Dark Magic. I mean, Dark Magic is pretty cool when its nasty hexes and curses, but I know when to stop. Some of the things that the Death Eaters do, like that murder the other day, it's just _sick_."

Severus was surprised at the note of venom in the boy's voice. But he had to agree; the well publicised and extremely nasty killings of four Muggles who had been found tortured and mutilated in an alley for fun… it _was _sick.

"That's a very un-Slytherin attitude." he observed. Regulus shrugged.

"Maybe I should have been in Hufflepuff." he said deprecatingly. Severus laughed.

"You would have given them all nightmares." he said, and the younger boy grinned.

"But seriously, I can sort of see what my brother means. I mean all this prejudice is a bit stupid. I think we're all equal in the end."

Severus smiled.

"Maybe you should have been in Hufflepuff." he sneered.

"But you agree, right? I mean, you used to be friends with that Muggle-born girl in Gryffindor, right? What was her name… Lily?"

Severus scowled.

"That was then." he said shortly. "Now she'll have nothing to do with me."

Regulus tilted his head to the side to survey the other boy.

"I think there is more to you than meets the eye." he said slowly. "You're in love with her, aren't you?"

"No!" Snape snapped instinctively. Regulus raised an eyebrow, and Snape sighed.

"Yes. But what can I do about it? She's going out with James bloody Potter."

Regulus looked shocked.

"No! Really? He finally got her to…"

Severus nodded bitterly, hating James Potter.

"So that's why you came down here?" Regulus asked quietly. The other boy nodded, and Regulus gave him a sympathetic smile.

"Well, I think Lily is mad, personally. I mean, James Potter is quite hot… but then, so are you. And you aren't as arrogant as Potter either."

"You know, Black, I think you _are_ gay after all."

"I'm not!" Regulus protested "I mean, well… I just appreciate the beauty of the male form."

Severus sniggered, and Regulus scowled.

"Well…" he said slyly a moment later. "There is a way to find out…"

And before Severus knew what was happening, the younger boy had leant over and kissed him. Severus froze in shock. Regulus had one hand on the floor and the other on Severus' shoulder, and he was making little purring noises that sent shivers down Severus' spine. The older boy had just realised that he actually didn't mind that Regulus was kissing him when Regulus pulled away.

"Just so you know I am not physically attracted to you." he said quickly.

"Of course not." Severus said, a little breathlessly.

"This was just a controlled experiment." Regulus continued.

"Naturally." Severus drawled "And have you come to a conclusion?"

Regulus frowned, a mischievous smile playing about his lips.

"Well, I'm in a bad mood. Sexual action always feels good when one is in a bad mood." he said.

"Is that so?" Severus asked, leaning back against the stone wall. Regulus nodded seriously.

"But whatever just went on here stays a complete secret, got it?" Regulus demanded threateningly. "I mean, like I said before, I can't do anything with a guy…"

"…I thought it wasn't physical attraction?" Severus asked smoothly. Regulus added hastily

"Oh, it isn't. But if a rumour got out, I don't think my family would see it that way."

"With me being half-blood as well…" Severus said quietly.

"Yeah…" Regulus blinked. "Wait… what?"

"I'm a half-blood." Severus admitted "Don't tell anybody."

"Course not." Regulus smirked "Well, here was me thinking I'd never have anything in common with Sirius…"

Severus scowled, sneaking glances at Regulus from between tendrils of hair.

"You know, Black…" he said slowly "Since we're both clearly straight and just need a little…"

"Sexual relief?" Regulus supplied. Severus nodded.

"And since there is absolutely no chemistry between us…"

"Hell no."

"And not a trace of physical attraction…"

"Perish the thought."

"… then maybe you wouldn't mind…" Severus finished quietly, reaching out to turn Regulus' head towards him. Regulus' eyes were glittering, looking even more like pools of molten silver.

"It would be my pleasure." he said with a grin "We all need a bit of sexual relief sometimes."

"Precisely." Severus said with a nod, and tilted his head to capture Regulus' lips once more. Regulus slid his arms around Severus' neck and Severus pulled the smaller boy onto his lap, not breaking the kiss. They ended up in a tangled heap on the stone floor, with Regulus running his light fingers along Severus' hips. Severus moaned, closing his eyes and arching his back as Regulus slipped his hand under Severus' shirt.

Suddenly a noise outside made them spring apart. Movement and chattering in the corridor told them that it was lunch time. Coughing and smoothing down his clothes, Regulus stood up.

"Well, thanks for talking. Er… do you come here often?" he asked.

"A lot." Severus said "Do you?"

"Yes, every Wednesday and Thursday."

"See you next Wednesday and Thursday?" Severus asked hopefully. Regulus grinned.

"I expect you shall." he said casually. Severus nodded, leaving the passageway first and looking back over his shoulder. In the dim light, Regulus' ironic smile and haughty good looks could be mistaken for that of his brother. But Severus knew different. He walked slowly down the corridor, feeling much better than when he had run down on his way to the passage, and knew it was down to the mysterious Regulus and his fiery kisses and understanding words. Regulus did say that sexual action made everybody feel better, but Severus thought that maybe there had been a little physical attraction there as well after all.


End file.
